Lynn Redgrave stars in the cast of the Sir Peter Hall staging of The Importance of Being Earnest starting at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre Jan. 17.

Lynn Redgrave
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

The Center Theatre Group production of the Oscar Wilde classic is scheduled to run through March 5 at the California stage. The work will later tour to a number of venues nationally including New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Redgrave will take on the role of Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. The Wilde tale set in 1890s England focuses on a gentleman who assumes the role of his fictitious brother Ernest in order to enjoy himself in the city without ruining his reputation at his country estate. Mistaken identity ensues in the classic tale.

A member of one of five generations of actors in her family, Redgrave is known for her Tony Award-nominated one-woman show, Shakespeare for My Father. She recently appeared on Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre Company presentation of W. Somerset Maugham's classic The Constant Wife. Other credits included Talking Heads, The Exonerated, The Mandrake Root, Black Comedy, Aren't We All, Moon Over Buffalo and another Tony nominated turn in Mrs. Warren's Profession. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the film "Gods and Monsters," her second nod after her title role in "Georgy Girl."

Her latest work, Nightingale, also debuts in London the same day Earnest starts in Los Angeles. Caroline John stars in the lead for London's The New End Theater Jan. 17-Feb. 18 as directed by Redgrave. The writer-actress will make the show's American premiere herself performing a one-night event at CTG's Mark Taper Forum Feb. 27 as directed by Joseph Hardy. CTG's Ahmanson will next host the special events Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake (March 8-19) and Dame Edna: Back With A Vengeance (March 28 April 9) as well as Robert Wilson, Tom Waits and William S. Burroughs' The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets (April 22-June 11) and a just-announced pre-Broadway musical Curtains for a July-September run.

Tickets to The Importance of Being Earnest at the Ahmanson, 135 North Grand Ave. in Los Angeles, CA, by calling (213) 628-2772 or visit www.TaperAhmanson.com.